US high-speed trains on track again?

[lpetrich]

Acela to Brightline: US' fastest trains, high-speed rail are coming
For American high-speed rail, 2020 could be a turning point - CNN

Starting with the opening of Japan's first high-speed line in 1964, several nations in eastern and western Eurasia have built thousands of kilometers / miles of high-speed trackage, and high-speed trains compete very well with short-distance airline service. High-speed service for trains is sometimes defined as at least 250 km/h (155 mph) on new lines or at least 200 km/h (124 mph) on existing ones. Many high-speed trains travel at 300 km/h (186 mph) or faster over much of their routes.

Compared to China, Japan, France, Spain, Italy, and some other nations, the United States is very far behind. The only line fitting this definition of high-speed rail is Amtrak's Northeast Corridor line: Boston - Providence - New Haven - New York City - Trenton - Philadelphia - Wilmington - Baltimore - Washington DC.

But numerous proposals for additional high-speed lines have been discussed over the years, with no action on them for a long time. Barack Obama's Presidency seemed like the beginning of an era of US high-speed rail, with projects in California, Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin going ahead. But after Republican governors were elected in the latter three states in 2010, those governors soon shut down those projects, and California got the money intended for them. Californians have started building their system, starting with its Central Valley segment: Merced - Madera - Fresno - Bakersfield.

But smaller-scale efforts have started in other states.

In Florida, Florida East Coast Industries decided to start passenger service on some tracks that it owns in southeastern Florida, under the name All Aboard Florida. It improved its line for West Palm Beach - Ft. Lauderdale - Miami service, changing its name to Brightline and opening in 2018. In 2019, Richard Branson's Virgin Group got involved, and the system is now Virgin Trains USA.

Virgin Trains is now extending the existing 65-mi / 105-km line northward 170 mi / 270 km to Orlando, and that extension will open in 2022. The company plans to build a station in Boca Raton, a short extension to PortMiami, and another extension from Orlando to Tampa.

Virgin Trains has acquired XpressWest, which is planning to build a 170-mi / 270-km line from Victorville, CA to Las Vegas. It should break ground late this year and start service in 2023. Its trains should travel at 200 mph / 320 km/h, taking 85 minutes instead of the 3 hours needed for driving. Victorville seems like a bad choice, since it is 84 mi / 135 km from Los Angeles, but getting closer requires crossing the San Gabriel Mountains north of LA.

In Texas, Texas Central is hoping to build a 240-mi / 390 km line between Dallas and Houston. Construction may start later this year, and service should start in 2026.

USA Today:

Not to be outdone, Amtrak is replacing its flagship Acela trains, which have been running from Washington to New York and Boston since 2000, at a maximum speed of 150 mph. The new trains will be able to go slightly faster — 160 mph — but are limited by curves and aging bridges and tunnels in the Northeast.

...
Amtrak, meanwhile, is upgrading track, bridges and stations in the Northeast Corridor in preparation for its new Acela trains, which will debut next year. But its long-term goals of more frequent and faster trains in the region are costly ones: In 2012, the railroad estimated all the necessary improvements would cost $151 billion by 2040. Amtrak receives about $1 billion a year in federal funding.

There are several other possible high-speed corridors that could be developed: Chicago - St. Louis, Atlanta - Charlotte NC, Seattle - Portland OR, Dallas - Austin - San Antonio, Houston - Austin (the Texas Triangle is Houston - Dallas - Austin)

CNN:

Brian Kelly, CEO of California High Speed Rail Authority believes that private sector investment in projects like the Vegas-to-LA connection, portends good things for his own project. He expects a private sector partner to join once risks to the San Francisco-to-LA project are resolved, such as environmental approvals and land to build on.

He added that the presidential election this fall will be significant as well for US high-speed rail development. The Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, has said he'll push for a national high-speed rail network.

"Somebody once said to me, 'building a mega-project is like surviving a series of near-death experiences,'" Kelly said. "It's true."

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Breath <--- You'll notice I'm not holding it.

 

[lpetrich]

A Lawmaker Wants Fast Trains to Rev Up the US Economy | WIRED - "US representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts proposes spending $205 billion over 5 years to connect Chicago with Atlanta, Portland with Vancouver."

Accuse Representative Seth Moulton of loving trains too much at your peril. Yes, the Massachusetts Democrat worked for a time on a high-speed-rail project in Texas, one that is now finally inching toward a groundbreaking ceremony. He’s pressed for a new rail tunnel in Boston. He’s a booster for commuter rail. But ask him why he loves trains, and he’ll correct you, firmly. “It's not that I just like trains so much,” he says. “We should have a transportation system that’s balanced and gives people options.”

On Tuesday, Moulton unveiled an ambitious—and expensive—plan to do just that. In a bill and accompanying white paper, the congressman proposed the federal government spend $205 billion over five years on a national high-speed rail network. That money could, in turn, encourage another $243 billion in matching state, local, and private investments, Moulton says. The bill would create a unified, national vision of a rail network that could guide future investments and would iron out regulations to speed construction. It would encourage private companies to operate the new rail networks, instead of, say, Amtrak, which is projecting a $700 million loss this year. It cites firms like Virgin Trains USA, which runs and hopes to extend a rail line in Florida, and Texas Central Railway, Moulton’s former employer, which is working to build one in the Lone Star State, as models.

After mentioning what nice rides that one can get -- no long drives and no waits at airports -- the article continued with:

The expansive vision is sure to face stiff opposition and will test Washington’s appetite for a pricey, infrastructure-based stimulus package designed to counter the pandemic-induced economic downtown. In late March, President Trump signaled on Twitter that he was interested, hyping support for a “VERY BIG & BOLD” plan focusing on “rebuilding the once great infrastructure of our County!” (He meant “country.”) But in a statement last week, the president’s Office of Management and Budget listed its top stimulus priorities as payroll tax holidays, releasing companies from liability, and “permitting reform to facilitate infrastructure projects”—a far cry from a bold and wide-ranging infrastructure program. Congress-watchers say Republican enthusiasm for writing such a check is waning, and fast.

Moulton Rolls Out National High-Speed Rail Plan | U.S. Congressman Seth Moulton - May 19, 2020

The plan will help build a national high-speed rail system by:

• Investing $41 billion annually in high-speed and higher-speed rail through grants administered by the Federal Railroad Administration over 5 years, with incentives for $38 billion or more in nonfederal funding;
• Expanding metrics used by states and cities for transportation planning to include wider economic benefits for more informed investments;
• Creating funding flexibility and transit-oriented development incentives for non-federal partners, including state and local transportation agencies and private partners; and
• Developing comprehensive, performance-based safety regulations and standards for high-speed rail to reduce project costs and expedite development.

If Congress enacts Moulton’s plan, America could reap the following benefits:

• Better connected economic megaregions along high-speed rail corridors to increase productivity and global competitiveness, with a return on investment that far outweighs the cost of capital investment;
• A coordinated, national transportation strategy that creates competition and reduces strain on our highway and aviation networks as high-speed rail serves high-volume corridors up to 750 miles;
• Clean, reliable, and safe transportation from city centers to city centers, with less time in security lines and waiting in terminals, fewer weather disruptions, and no rush-hour traffic;
• Development of walkable communities and expanded access to housing in urban centers and intermediate communities;
• Increased national security and exports through increased U.S. independence from imported fuels and competition with China’s use of high-speed rail in its Belt and Road Initiative; and
• Creation of new American industries, such as manufacturing and high-grade steel production, even communities separated from new transportation corridors.

 

[lpetrich]

American High Speed Rail and Rebuilding the US Economy - 2.pdf

Emerging from the global devastation of World War II, America built an economy that quickly became the envy of the world. It was built upon a foundation of new infrastructure, funded by Congress and the American taxpayer, that dramatically expanded jobs, transportation options, and access to markets for people and businesses across the country. America didn’t just rebuild 19th-century infrastructure; our nation built 20th-century systems to meet the demands and opportunities of a new economy.

Today our infrastructure, much of it dating to those postwar years, is failing. And like that time, simply rebuilding the infrastructure of the last century will be insufficient to meet either the demands or the opportunities of an economy that is changing faster than ever before. As automation and artificial intelligence come to support every aspect of our lives; as a global pandemic sharpens our focus on ensuring domestic manufacturing capacity; and as a new generation of Americans demand next-generation transportation options, we cannot rely on the technologies of the past. In the 1950s, we didn’t just add lanes to our state highways or make dirt runways longer; we built interstates and international airports. Today, relying solely on highways while the rest of the world speeds past us in high-speed trains would be akin to investing billions in laying more copper telephone lines while the rest of the world installs fiber optics.

Our global competitors recognize this: $46 billion is expected to be invested annually in high-speed rail and transit in China from 2020-2030, about 27% of their transportation budget. Even Morocco, with roughly half a percent of our GDP, invested $2.2 billion in Casablanca- Tangier high-speed rail as the first leg of a connection between its major cities and less developed communities in the Western Sahara Desert. Saudia Arabia, gushing with oil, just completed a 280-mile electrified high-speed line that headlines its new infrastructure push to link holy cities, like Mecca and Medina, and commercial centers, like Jeddah, with King Abdulaziz International Airport and communities along the Red Sea coast. These are just but a few examples. It’s time for America to catch up, or the world economy will leave us behind.

The page has a list of HSR and rail-improvement projects, but no map of them.

I've found maps on these pages, however:

• High Speed Rail - NCTCOG.org
• High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) Program | FRA

All of the routes are in regions of the contiguous United States, with no continent-spanning ones like New York City - Los Angeles.

 

[lpetrich]

I have assembled a long route from existing routes and various proposals. I call it the Atlantic Axis. It goes:

Portland ME - Boston - Providence - New Haven - NYC - Newark NJ - Trenton - Philadelphia - Wilmington - Baltimore - DC - Richmond - Raleigh - Durham - Greensboro - Charlotte - Greenville - Atlanta - Jacksonville - Daytona Beach - Orlando - West Palm Beach - Miami

It has several branches off of it:

• Boston - Springfield MA - Albany
• New Haven - Hartford - Springfield MA
• NYC - Albany - Syracuse - Rochester - Buffalo - Niagara Falls
• Philadelphia - Harrisburg - Pittsburgh
• Richmond - Norfolk
• Raleigh - Columbia SC - Savannah - Jacksonville
• Orlando - Tampa

Another big set of routes is what I call Greater Chicagoland. It is:

• Chicago - Detroit
• Chicago - Cleveland
• Cincinnati - Columbus - Cleveland
• Chicago - Indianapolis - Cincinnati
• Indianapolis - Louisville
• Chicago - Carbondale
• Chicago - Springfield IL - St. Louis - Kansas City
• Chicago - Iowa City - Omaha
• Chicago - Milwaukee - Minneapolis / St. Paul

Then what may be called the Texas Triangle:

• Houston - Dallas
• Dallas - Austin - San Antonio
• Houston - Austin (filled in by me)

California has a long line:

San Francisco - San Jose - Gilroy - Madera - Fresno - Bakersfield - Palmdale - Burbank - Los Angeles - Anaheim

with branches:

• Madera - Merced - Stockton - Sacramento
• Los Angeles - Riverside - San Diego
• Palmdale - Victorville - Las Vegas

The Pacific Northwest has this line:

Vancouver BC - Seattle - Portland - Eugene

 

[lpetrich]

Looking in  High-speed rail I find maps of several nations' systems, systems in Western and Eastern Eurasia.

Some nations don't have much of a system, like Taiwan, but others have impressive systems.

• China - 35,000 km - Network
• Japan - 2,765 km - Trunk line with branches
• S Korea - 1,543 km - Hub and branched spokes
• Taiwan - 350 km - Single line
• France - 2,647 km - Hub and branched spokes
• Spain - 3,240 km - Hub and branched spokes
• Italy - 974 km - Trunk line with branches
• Germany - 1,571 km - Network

Turning to the US plans, I find:

• Atlantic Axis - Trunk line with branches
• Greater Chicagoland - Hub and branched spokes
• California - Trunk line with branches
• Texas - Network
• Pacific Northwest - Single line

Construction of Buffalo - Cleveland, Pittsburgh - Cleveland, Chicago - Atlanta, Chicago - Texas, and Orlando FL - Texas connect the three eastern sets of lines to make what may be called the Eastern Network. Its western boundary is roughly at highway I-35, roughly a boundary between the more humid and more densely-populated eastern half of the contiguous US and its more arid and more thinly-populated western half.


The bill that Seth Moulton mentioned. He is one of its cosponsors.
H.R.5805 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): High Speed Rail Corridor Development Act of 2020 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
Not much in it, however.

 

[lpetrich]

Nearly 40 years of construction in Europe has yielded a combined line of impressive length.

Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Antwerp - Brussels - Lille - Paris - Lyon - Montpellier - Barcelona - Zaragoza - Madrid - Seville - Cádiz

1800 miles / 2900 kilometers

For comparison:

• The Atlantic Axis: 2000 miles / 3300 kilometers
• Japan Shinkansen (Aomori - Kagoshima): 1,300 mi / 2,100 km
• Italy (Turin - Naples): 600 mi / 960 km
• California (San Francisco - Anaheim): 490 mi / 790 km

 

[TV and credit cards]

Choo choo trains. Pffft.

Love him or hate him, does anyone doubt Elon Musk's ability to follow through and get the job done? How will history tell his story regarding the electric vehicle? He alone accomplished this. Not just the vehicles but the infrastructure to support them. In an industry known to be near impossible for start-ups, he not only succeeded in the industry but forced the industry to remake itself in his image. And then space travel. He took what was the dying achievements of US exceptionalism and propelled them into space once again.

So the Hyperloop. He proposes travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 35 minutes at speeds up to 760 mph for $20 per passenger. There will be a capsule leaving every thirty seconds. Supposedly at a total cost of $6-7.5B. Can he do it? Would you bet against him?
Ref: Tesla short sellers.

Why should the US play catch up, updating a centuries old mode of transportation? If Elon Musk can once again pull this off, delivering people and goods much faster and cheaper, what will the rail industry do?

And on a personal note, as one who is nearly surrounded by railroad tracks, no more beat to shit R/R crossings, no more waiting for trains (most moving, some stalled), no more being woken at 0dark30 by train horns. All those rails can be turned into trails.

 

[lpetrich]

Choo choo trains. Pffft.

Nowadays they are vroom vroom trains and whir whir trains.

Love him or hate him, does anyone doubt Elon Musk's ability to follow through and get the job done? ...

I've never understood the hero worship of Elon Musk.

So the Hyperloop. He proposes travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 35 minutes at speeds up to 760 mph for $20 per passenger. There will be a capsule leaving every thirty seconds. Supposedly at a total cost of $6-7.5B. Can he do it? Would you bet against him?

I'd bet against him. This is a TOTALLY unproven technology that will need a LOT of testing. It isn't even a new idea. Vactrains have been proposed for decades, though with no effort to build any over all that time. Vactrains have some formidable technical challenges. Their tubes must be kept evacuated, the trains will have to enter and exit through airlocks, and the trains must be pressurized for their passengers.

By comparison, cars and rockets are MUCH easier.

Looking at the prices of recent Tesla cars, I note that they are still relatively expensive. They start at about $40,000, while other cars start at $20,000.

I'll give him some credit for his rockets, like being competitive with existing ones, and especially being able to be reused. But it took a lot of development work, with lots of failed landings.

Why should the US play catch up, updating a centuries old mode of transportation?

Irrelevant bullshit. High-speed trains have mainly been developed over the last half-century, and doesn't that make them new enough?

Let's look at some dates.

• High-speed trains -- Japanese Shinkansen: 1964, French TGV: 1981
• Jet-engine aircraft -- Gloster Meteor, Messerschmitt 262: 1044
• Powered flight -- the Wright Brothers: 1903
• Internal combustion engines for vehicles -- late 19th cy.
• Steam engines for vehicles -- late 18th cy.
• Wheeled vehicles -- ~ 3000 BCE
• Paved roads -- ~ 4000 BCE
• Work animals (carrying, pulling) -- Neolithic to Bronze Age -- bovine: 8000 BCE, horse: 3500 BCE
• Boats / ships -- oldest known one (Pesse dugout canoe): 8000 BCE -- from human dispersion: Paleolithic
• Bipedal walking -- older than our species. The first clear evidence is the Laetoli footprints: 3.7 Mya (Pliocene)
• Walking in general -- much older than our species. The first clear evidence is the Zachelmie trackways: 390 Mya (Devonian)
• Moving in general -- much older than our species. The first strong evidence is the Early Cambrian trace fossil "Treptichnus pedum": 541 Mya. There is weaker trace-fossil evidence from the Ediacaran, just before that.

So one shouldn't dismiss a way of traveling just because it's old.

If Elon Musk can once again pull this off, delivering people and goods much faster and cheaper, what will the rail industry do?

I'll believe it when I see it.

And on a personal note, as one who is nearly surrounded by railroad tracks, no more beat to shit R/R crossings, no more waiting for trains (most moving, some stalled), no more being woken at 0dark30 by train horns. All those rails can be turned into trails.

Those are all freight trains, and they are not the main target of Elon Musk's vactrains.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I've never understood the hero worship of Elon Musk.

The guy scrapped together an auto company. Almost no one else has done that in the US in a century. And StarLink could be quite something if that flies.

So the Hyperloop. He proposes travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 35 minutes at speeds up to 760 mph for $20 per passenger. There will be a capsule leaving every thirty seconds. Supposedly at a total cost of $6-7.5B. Can he do it? Would you bet against him?

I'd bet against him. This is a TOTALLY unproven technology that will need a LOT of testing. It isn't even a new idea. Vactrains have been proposed for decades, though with no effort to build any over all that time. Vactrains have some formidable technical challenges. Their tubes must be kept evacuated, the trains will have to enter and exit through airlocks, and the trains must be pressurized for their passengers.

By comparison, cars and rockets are MUCH easier.

Yeah, there are a substantial number of issues with the hyperloop. To begin with, the technology. Then all the issues that high-speed rail has in the US. The trouble with high speed rail in the US is everything. The US has almost no dedicated regional passenger rail lines to speak of. So high-speed is starting from scratch. I want it, I love the idea, but we have no right-of-way to go with and land gets expensive quickly.

 

[lpetrich]

I've never understood the hero worship of Elon Musk.

The guy scrapped together an auto company. Almost no one else has done that in the US in a century. And StarLink could be quite something if that flies.

That's a feat of business management, not a feat of R&D. Especially the sort of R&D that a vactrain will need.

I'd bet against him. This is a TOTALLY unproven technology that will need a LOT of testing. It isn't even a new idea. Vactrains have been proposed for decades, though with no effort to build any over all that time. Vactrains have some formidable technical challenges. Their tubes must be kept evacuated, the trains will have to enter and exit through airlocks, and the trains must be pressurized for their passengers.

By comparison, cars and rockets are MUCH easier.

Yeah, there are a substantial number of issues with the hyperloop. To begin with, the technology. ...

That's a huge understatement.

 

[lpetrich]

Rep. Ro Khanna on Twitter: "
China has +19,000 miles of high-speed rail.

We have <500 miles.

Our fastest train takes 22 hours from NY to Chicago. Same distance in China takes only 4.5hrs.

We need massive investments in railways if we want to compete in the 21st century.
" / Twitter

Sam Mintz on Twitter: "With Biden's campaign talking about big plans for rail, here's a map that Amtrak is circulating with ambitious but realistic expansions over the next 15 years. The railroad says this would cost $25 billion

Existing network in black, new corridors in colors https://t.co/7FsDmSeCcN" / Twitter
(with a map of the proposed corridors in an image file)

Sam Mintz on Twitter: "And here's a list of the dozens of new or expanded corridors Amtrak is considering https://t.co/Kf2w4fe1NR" / Twitter
(with another map)

Sam Mintz on Twitter: "Here's the presentation this came from, given by Amtrak's Ray Lang to the Rail Passengers Association https://t.co/8OeEFw0bii" / Twitter

 

[Swammerdami]

Rep. Ro Khanna on Twitter: "
China has +19,000 miles of high-speed rail.

We have <500 miles.

Our fastest train takes 22 hours from NY to Chicago. Same distance in China takes only 4.5hrs.

I'd never heard of Ro Khanna but I'll lay odds he/she is a Democrat. What do I win?

We'll have 51 Senators who'll oppose infrastructure development or improvement simply because their highest priority will be to make President Biden fail. It is wishful thinking to make comparisons between the U.S.A. and countries with rational governance.

 

[lpetrich]

I'd never heard of Ro Khanna but I'll lay odds he/she is a Democrat. What do I win?

Swammerdami, haven't you ever heard of an Internet search engine? Look up "Ro Khanna" in one of these. Or else use Wikipedia.

We'll have 51 Senators who'll oppose infrastructure development or improvement simply because their highest priority will be to make President Biden fail. It is wishful thinking to make comparisons between the U.S.A. and countries with rational governance.

I agree that that will be a big problem -- even if the Democrats get a Senate majority.

 

[TSwizzle]

We'll have 51 Senators who'll oppose infrastructure development or improvement simply because their highest priority will be to make President Biden fail. It is wishful thinking to make comparisons between the U.S.A. and countries with rational governance.

Wait, you think China has rational governance ?

 

[Worldtraveller]

Having lived in a civilized country with rail and high speed rail, there are a few other infrastructure issues that need to be overcome, IMO, before looking into high speed rail of any significant length.

In order for rail to be useful in the US, there has to be a way to get around at one's destination. There are two ways to do this:
1) Build extra capacity in the rails to carry passengers AND their vehicles. Easier in short term, but it is a hassle to load cars and people on to trains. It takes much longer stops at each end.
2) Have existing regional city wide transportation. This can be bus or rail, but it needs to be effective. This is more long term, and requires significant investment in infrastructure.

Honestly, there's no real need for the ultra fast trains that Musk wants to build. If you can make a dedicated system of highspeed rail comparable to China, Europe, or Japan, with the associated infrastructure, it would (again, my opinion) be plenty adequate. With the reduced wait times for loading and unloading (unless the US does something really stupid like put the TSA in charge of 'security') the net time to take a train even halfway across the country is less than flying.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The viability of high speed rail is a function of passenger volume. Very few places in the US have the sort of passenger volume to support it.

Consider, also, that once you add in the stops along the way the trains aren't all that fast. I've ridden some of China's high speed trains--speeds around 200 mph, but their progress along the map is no faster than you get on the freeway because of the stops.

 

[Swammerdami]

I'd never heard of Ro Khanna but I'll lay odds he/she is a Democrat. What do I win?

Swammerdami, haven't you ever heard of an Internet search engine? Look up "Ro Khanna" in one of these. Or else use Wikipedia.

If you're trying to out-sarcastic me, let's just call a truce, OK?

I've so much Googling to do, I resort to triage! I'm afraid learning about Ro Whatisnamma is not on my current Top 10,000 Most Coveted Googlings List. (And it would have been unfair for me to offer to bet on the "D" if I'd looked it up! )

The personalities of politics interest me very little. It was only yesterday that I learned, by chance, that Roger Stone got his start on Tricky Dick's "dirty tricks" team.

 

[Worldtraveller]

The viability of high speed rail is a function of passenger volume. Very few places in the US have the sort of passenger volume to support it.

Consider, also, that once you add in the stops along the way the trains aren't all that fast. I've ridden some of China's high speed trains--speeds around 200 mph, but their progress along the map is no faster than you get on the freeway because of the stops.

This may or may not be true. I think if we started building effective mass transportation at the local level, people might eventually start using it. If that happens (hard to say with USians being the stubborn anti-social gits they are) then people might be more willing to use mass transit for longer trips. Local --> Regional --> Interstate. Coast to coast may be a pretty rare thing, since even a high speed train can't compete with aircraft for that, but for people on vacation, the travel (by train) is half the fun of it. That's the attitude towards it in much of Europe. It's pretty refreshing.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The viability of high speed rail is a function of passenger volume. Very few places in the US have the sort of passenger volume to support it.

Consider, also, that once you add in the stops along the way the trains aren't all that fast. I've ridden some of China's high speed trains--speeds around 200 mph, but their progress along the map is no faster than you get on the freeway because of the stops.

This may or may not be true. I think if we started building effective mass transportation at the local level, people might eventually start using it. If that happens (hard to say with USians being the stubborn anti-social gits they are) then people might be more willing to use mass transit for longer trips. Local --> Regional --> Interstate. Coast to coast may be a pretty rare thing, since even a high speed train can't compete with aircraft for that, but for people on vacation, the travel (by train) is half the fun of it. That's the attitude towards it in much of Europe. It's pretty refreshing.

It's always about density. All forms of transit require traffic volume to be viable. The more flexible the form of transit the lower a traffic volume it can support. On the extreme low end we have helicopters--they can go virtually anywhere and require no facilities where they actually go. Hence you see them used extensively in situations where the volume to any given location is very low. On the other end of the spectrum you have high speed trains. You need a lot of people going from A to B to make it worthwhile to run a train between them. (Note that high speed trains are a separate category from trains in general--low speed trains share tracks with cargo trains and the cargo counts for demand. There is very little cargo that warrants a high speed train vs a regular train.)